Narcissistic peacocks turn to stone, loquacious parrots are shut up in books and silk worm-saving Ahimsa Stoles are put on a pedestal. Indian motifs get exactly what they deserve at Design Temple, a Colaba graphic art house that launched its new collection, Hindustan Hipsters, this weekend.

Maiden India

Helmed by graphic art priestess Divya Thakur, the project features a bunch of artist/designer collaborations, together resulting in a fun trip around the store. Start at the in-house Hindustan Hipsters corner where you can buy temple bells that are really hanging aluminium lights, woven cotton towels with exposed stitches that reminded us of the ones we used at our grandmother’s, their signature diaries and planners ( for 2012) and a few random skull key chains.

Next, follow the network of varicose vains to the hand-crafted silver wall mirror shaped like a peacock, a pretty (and pricey) homage to the country’s national bird. And if this reflection on India fails to impress, see Banoo Batliboi’s (remember the ‘spine’ specialist we featured on bpb?) painstakingly put together book sculptures, a fun centre piece for party conversations.

Brave Art

And now if you’ll walk this way, you can get in line to admire the Ahimsa silk stole (a soft and chic donut-like garment that can be worn many different ways ) that performed abovementioned feat of bravery involving silk worms. Not ideal for Mumbai’s weather, but still a fun, versatile garment to have and to hold. Speaking of courageous, let’s see if you can spend Rs 350 on six elegant but disposable acrea leaf party plates and watch your guests crush them at the end of the night. This biodegradable crockery with brutal end and matching mats comes courtesy Ecoliving, a brand that also does super pretty napkin rings made from the Shola plant stem and coasters that didn’t really catch our fancy.

The end of your Design Temple trip will culminate in a larger space that hosts fashion brand Obataimu’s Bombay Bohemia. Developed for Design Temple, the collection features none of the brand’s striking turquoise blazers or face print skirts we’ve worn and loved in the past. You’ll see instead a muted range of black and white breathe-easy garments meant to be worn on a flight or while you’re at yoga. The downward facing dog will never look this good, we thought, as we held up the 9 Yard Pant, a fun take on the sari. Like this piece, the others too marry desi concepts with contemporary ones, resulting in products like kurta T-shirts, lungi trousers and sari tops. We particularly love the long black kurta for men.  

Birds in Hand

As national birds and Kolkata flowers met their fate at Design Temple, so did we - a bright red tiger print carpet (that's meant to mock tiger skin rugs) for Rs 42,000. Now if only we'd find a way to earn those stripes.

Getting there: Design Temple, no.2 Churchill Chambers,32, Mereweather Road, Colaba, call 22821001, Rs 1,150 for a 2012 diary, Rs 1,850 for a cloud cotton tee.